Saw a bucket truck in front of my house. Got very excited until I saw it was just a tree company trying to get snowy branches off the lines just to try to power back up what was already on but lost power in the snow storm.

I hate LIPA!

I have family and friends from Long Beach, Lawrence, Rockaway Beach and Breezy Point. 3 out of 4 won't be able to get back into their homes for months. The other ones place is a mess and had to have carpets removed because of the floods but they are toughing it out despite offers from several family members to stay with them. My offer to stay at my house with no power and limited generator was likely not taken seriously.

Saw a bucket truck in front of my house. Got very excited until I saw it was just a tree company trying to get snowy branches off the lines just to try to power back up what was already on but lost power in the snow storm.

I hate LIPA!

I have family and friends from Long Beach, Lawrence, Rockaway Beach and Breezy Point. 3 out of 4 won't be able to get back into their homes for months. The other ones place is a mess and had to have carpets removed because of the floods but they are toughing it out despite offers from several family members to stay with them. My offer to stay at my house with no power and limited generator was likely not taken seriously.

Stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about getting the course up and running. It will be 63 Sunday. Calling for a tee time as we speak.

When we lived in NH for 14 years we never had a blackout go more than a single day about 25 times (1996-2009) and only had one go for multiple days 1 time (epic ice storm 2008).

In the 19 months we've been in NJ we've never lost power ever. Now that we have, the generator install people will be the very first call when the power is restored. That said...

We have gas into our stove, are making soups and pastas and eggs and anything fried in a pan every day.

We have gas into our water heater, have unlimited hot water to shower in.

We have gas into our fireplace, can crank it up to 75 degrees in our great room where we're currently camped out every night.

While having a generator would get the boiler going and steam heat into every room, it means worrying about gasoline- and that's the one thing that's been a non-issue for us this week. We filled up both cars last Monday, and since we have no place to go we've got plenty of fuel left. Few trips to town to see movies, few trips to the mall to kill time. No waiting 3+ hours for $20 of premium necessary.

So I'm on the fence with the generator based on this experience. I guess in sub-zero temps the fireplace might not cut it and thus the generator is a nice insurance policy. I'll check into it and report back.

SAR I

I have gas heat as well and all the ammenities you mentioned but with 3 kids the peice of mind alone is well worth the price. A modern 6500W generator (aprox $900. retail) with connection directly to your panel will power up most houses (all lights, heat, even washer and gas dryer) and the 7 gallon tank will give you 11-13 hours or run time. If you stock up a few gas cans before any storm and use the generator wisely (turn off during sleep time) it's like you haven't even lost power.

I have gas heat as well and all the ammenities you mentioned but with 3 kids the peice of mind alone is well worth the price. A modern 6500W generator (aprox $900. retail) with connection directly to your panel will power up most houses (all lights, heat, even washer and gas dryer) and the 7 gallon tank will give you 11-13 hours or run time. If you stock up a few gas cans before any storm and use the generator wisely (turn off during sleep time) it's like you haven't even lost power.

No brainer IMO.

What you have to understand about SAR... is that he's a chronic liar. But he's OUR chronic liar.

When we lived in NH for 14 years we never had a blackout go more than a single day about 25 times (1996-2009) and only had one go for multiple days 1 time (epic ice storm 2008).

In the 19 months we've been in NJ we've never lost power ever. Now that we have, the generator install people will be the very first call when the power is restored. That said...

We have gas into our stove, are making soups and pastas and eggs and anything fried in a pan every day.

We have gas into our water heater, have unlimited hot water to shower in.

We have gas into our fireplace, can crank it up to 75 degrees in our great room where we're currently camped out every night.

While having a generator would get the boiler going and steam heat into every room, it means worrying about gasoline- and that's the one thing that's been a non-issue for us this week. We filled up both cars last Monday, and since we have no place to go we've got plenty of fuel left. Few trips to town to see movies, few trips to the mall to kill time. No waiting 3+ hours for $20 of premium necessary.

So I'm on the fence with the generator based on this experience. I guess in sub-zero temps the fireplace might not cut it and thus the generator is a nice insurance policy. I'll check into it and report back.

SAR I

You already have an unlimited supply of gas. Simply get a propane generator. You could hook it up to the gas in the house and get a few barbeque tanks for just in case.

I have gas heat as well and all the ammenities you mentioned but with 3 kids the peice of mind alone is well worth the price. A modern 6500W generator (aprox $900. retail) with connection directly to your panel will power up most houses (all lights, heat, even washer and gas dryer) and the 7 gallon tank will give you 11-13 hours or run time. If you stock up a few gas cans before any storm and use the generator wisely (turn off during sleep time) it's like you haven't even lost power.

No brainer IMO.

Thanks, yeah I'm going to try that very soon. I think because I have gas I can hook up to a natural gas generator and I don't even need to search for gasoline either.

You already have an unlimited supply of gas. Simply get a propane generator. You could hook it up to the gas in the house and get a few barbeque tanks for just in case.

Do I have propane gas? I thought I had natural gas. Are they the same thing?

Originally Posted by PlumberKhan

Is your boiler gas and actually steam?

If it is, you can run it with no power. If you're handy and such

Yes, I have a steam boiler that runs on gas. It was very frustrating because I could see the pilot light, but could not get it to go full blast. When I called my heating guy, he informed me that I had an electronic damper and thus I could not manually crank up the flame to get the boiler to boil and make steam for the entire house.

Of course natural gas service can be disrupted the same as electricity can, much less common though. natural gas and propane or two different things, they are not commonly interchangeable, kinda of a carburetor thing.

Where I live, I worry about earth quake mostly, then wind storms, then ice storms.

Yes, I have a steam boiler that runs on gas. It was very frustrating because I could see the pilot light, but could not get it to go full blast. When I called my heating guy, he informed me that I had an electronic damper and thus I could not manually crank up the flame to get the boiler to boil and make steam for the entire house.

SAR I

That sucks...seeing the pilot but no heat.

It still couldbe done. Could jump the damper out and prop it open manually. But I wouldn't suggest jumping out safety features on a steam boiler unless you were a heating guy yourself and knew how it worked inside and out. I walked in on a job where the float got hung up and the thing ran dry for a while before it cooked itself. Go so freaking hot that all of the solder just ran out of all the joints in the copper header above the thing. Turned the instruction booklet on top of it to a pile of ash.

I love steam boilers. They produce a TON of heat for little gas consumption. They just require more attention/service than a regular sealed hydronic boiler or a furnace. I'm sure you have it done every season....but I would never skip a year without having it checked over and serviced.

Do I have propane gas? I thought I had natural gas. Are they the same thing?

I thought natural gas just had a line in to the house, whereas propane you would get delivered, just like you would oil. There is more of a tendency for propane tanks to be out where it is more rural, as the geographic nature of some areas makes it prohibitive to put in gas lines, so for an optional fuel choice in those areas, a lot of people choose propane.